Exploring the Role of Emotion in the Design Cycle

Scholars have focused on “design and emotion” for more than a decade. Various studies, models, and theories have been proposed and adopted to explore the relationship between design and emotion, and to explain how emotion can be applied in the design process. After the theories are categorised according to the respective focuses, three main components that influence or are influenced by emotion can be identified: designers, design outcome and users or consumers in the design cycle. Based on the relationships amongst these components, numerous similar terms categorised under emotion and design that have clear and concrete rationales and definitions have been developed. For instance, “emotionalised design” refers to design in which designers introduce their emotions into the design process. “Emotional design” is viewed as design that can stimulate users’ or consumers’ emotion. “Emotion design” is design in which emotional concerns are involved in the interactions between designers and users. However, few studies have focused on designers’ perceptions of these terms and of the role of emotion in design. By conducting an empirical study, we investigated designers’ perceptions of three terms, emotion design, emotional design, and emotionalised design, and explored designers’ experience regarding emotion and design.